Second Star From The Right
by Manic Penguin
Summary: After the fire at the Independence Inn one of the guests sues Lorelai. Post Tale of Poes and Fire.
1. And So It Begins

_**TITLE** Second Star From The Right_

_**RATING** PG-13-R_

_**SUMMERY** After the fire at the Independence Inn one of the guests sues Lorelai._

_**DISCLAIMER** I own nothing. I don't even have the cash to buy the DVDs. All 'previously on' parts were written by Daniel Palladino and transcribed by a friend of mine who loves script-format writing so I apologize for the scriptiness of the beginning but once the story starts it won't be like that anymore, I promise._

_**NOTES** **1)** This story came to me one night when my insomnia was kicking my butt and I'd spent the day enjoying a GG marathon with some friends. I won't get into the original 'what if' that got this tale started because that would be spoilerish for later chapters, but I was very excited when I started writing this._

_**2)** This is my first GG fic, but I constantly annoy my friends and family with my Lorelai-speak so I think I might be able to pull this off. Eventually this will become a Luke/Lorelai story, but, since, at the time that the episode happened in the world of Stars Hollow, Luke and Nicole (aka Satan's whiny hell spawn) were still seeing each other (yuck!) I couldn't just jump right in with the romance. There will be longings, though, since the almost-but-not-quite love affair between Luke and Lorelai was a mainstay from day one, frustrating fans much like the Harm/Mac situation on JAG._

_**3)** I am **not** a fan of Jess, so he won't be sticking around for very long. Sorry for any Jess/Rory fans, but I can't write something I don't feel right about._

_**4) **This chapter is shorter than the average will be, but I needed to end where I did for a reason._

* * *

PREVIOUSLY ON **_GILMORE GIRLS_**

* * *

RORY: Hmm, looks like Nicole's got a little Lindsay attitude going.

* * *

CHIEF BAKER: Ma'am, I'm Chief Baker. 

LORELAI: Oh, I'm sorry I jumped on ya.

CHIEF BAKER: That's okay. The good news is that this is almost out. The structure's stable, and you're probably gonna be able to get back in in about twenty-four hours.

LORELAI: Excellent. Twenty-four hours, structure's stable, thank you.

* * *

LORELAI: Hi everybody. Good morning, and uh… whoa, talk about your change of plans here. Unfortunately, you, uh, can't get your stuff out for at least a day. However, if you wanna get home immediately, we will check planes, trains, whatever you need. We will send your stuff to you later as soon as we get it. But if you can't get home yet, we will provide everything short of anything illegal, and that's gonna start with the best breakfast of your lives.

* * *

LORELAI: We had a fire. 

RORY: I know.

* * *

JESS: What caused it?

RORY: They're not sure. Something electrical, probably.

* * *

LUKE: I'm fine with the couch. You're the one that's exhausted. 

LORELAI: You know, I'm actually not.

LUKE: Really?

LORELAI: I'm, like, strangely exhilarated. I mean, as _awful_ as what happened today was, I'm happy with how I handled it. You know, you never know how you're gonna react in situations like this until something happens and I think I did pretty well.

LUKE: Yeah, I do, too.

* * *

LORELAI: Well, you have nothing to hide here. You just took in a refugee. 

LUKE: I know there's nothing to hide. It's just that… you've kinda become a…

LORELAI: Become what?

LUKE: A sore point with me and Nicole.

* * *

LORELAI: Ooh, wow, _total_ déjà vu. 

LUKE: Really?

LORELAI: It's the alarm clock. I had a dream once that you set eighteen alarm clocks to get me up, which is _not_ a bad way to get me up.

LUKE: Where were we?

LORELAI: We were, um, at my house. I got up, I went downstairs for coffee, and you talked to my stomach.

LUKE: Why on earth I do that?

LORELAI: Well, because I was pregnant. Twins.

LUKE: Mine?

LORELAI: What am I, dream tramp? Of course yours.

LUKE: We were married?

LORELAI: Um, yeah. Did I not mention that?

LUKE: No. You know, you shouldn't drink coffee when you're pregnant.

LORELAI: Uh, true.

LUKE: It's _probably_ why Rory's a caffeine addict.

LORELAI: Right, you're right.

LUKE: Dream go beyond that?

LORELAI: No. Um, you talked to my stomach and then you kis… well, no.

LUKE: Oh, okay. Well… night.

LORELAI: Yeah, night.

* * *

AND SO IT BEGINS...

* * *

The Poe Society had finally gone home, Lorelai and Rory had their bedrooms back, and the clean up at the Independence Inn was starting the next morning, so things were good again in the lives of the Lorelai's Gilmore. 

After spending most of the morning on the phone with employees trying to reassure them that they would still have jobs to come back to Lorelai went to Luke's, her safe haven where cell phone usage was prohibited and friendly faces abounded, for a late lunch.

"What can I get ya?" Luke asked, pencil poised over his notepad.

"Cheeseburger, fries, one of those blueberry scone things—heated and buttered liberally—and a vat of coffee," Lorelai said without a moment of hesitation. She had been looking forward to this meal since the night before but things had been so crazy with the Inn and dealing with the remaining guests that she hadn't been able to go to Luke's at all. She was experiencing some serious withdrawals and didn't enjoy the feelings one bit.

Luke groaned but wrote down the order and headed back to the kitchen to make sure Caesar wasn't slaking off again. Once he made sure Lorelai's order was placed he grabbed the coffee pot and went over to her table, filling the cup before sinking down into the chair across from her.

"You okay?" Lorelai asked, amused but also concerned. She had never seen Luke acting this way before. Luke sighed heavily. "Luke, you're scaring me," she said, amusement officially gone. She wasn't sure if it was a mothering instinct to a friend thing or maybe just her Luke-something's-funky-radar but whatever it was Lorelai was off the charts disturbed by Luke's current despondent attitude.

Angry Luke she could deal with. Ranting Luke was hilarious. Helpful Luke was heart-warming. Monosyllabic Luke was par for the course. But Depressed Luke was completely uncharted territory.

"Jess isn't going to school," Luke said. He took off his hat and hit the table with it angrily before replacing it on his head. "He's not going to school and he's lying about it and the stupid Wal-Mart guys with their stupid blue vests think he's a gift from the Gods or something and he's lying to Rory because she would never let him _not_ go to school and she is the only good thing that has ever happened to him and he's going to screw it up."

Lorelai sighed softly. She didn't like Jess. She knew he was going to end up breaking her daughter's heart. She knew that he was going to break _Luke's_ heart.

She _really_ hadn't wanted to be right.

"Luke, first of all, Rory is not the only good thing in Jess' life. Coming here, living with you, has changed him. Sure, he's still not Mr. Congeniality but think about how much better things are now than when he came here in the first place," she said, reaching over and putting her hand on his. His skin was warm against her palm and she fought against the little jolt she got from the contact. "And, okay, if he's skipping school then he's definitely lying to both you and Rory, but it's not like he's knocking over liquor stores or pushing little old ladies into oncoming traffic. He's working, at a reputable company, at a job that he obviously likes because Jess is not the type of kid to do something he doesn't like for forty-plus hours a week. And, yes, not going to school is going to screw him over, but even if he would accept it he's too old for you to hold his hand and walk him from class to class."

"I know," Luke said somewhat reluctantly. "I just… I told him when he came back last year that he was going to go to school, that he was going to graduate, and that if he didn't do those things he was out."

"So… are you going to stick by that?" Lorelai asked. She was worried for Rory, but she was more worried for Luke. Rory would be fine. Break ups were easy to get over. A little wallowing, some girls-only time with friends, maybe some dating downtime, and then you're back to your usual self. Plus post-high school romances with high school sweethearts were notoriously problematic, and Lorelai knew that Rory knew that and was prepared for the eventuality that her relationship with Jess would peter off once she went to Yale. But Luke… Lorelai knew that he would see this as a failure on his part, even though he did everything he could to make sure that Jess got his act together. And failing was not something that Luke Danes had mastered. Lorelai doubted he even knew how to fail, despite what he said about failing if it was his destiny when he opened the diner.

"I don't know," Luke sighed. There were no other customers in the diner and Cesar was in the back with the radio on. "I don't want to do it, but I can't just let him live here and lie to everyone." He groaned in frustration before getting up to get Lorelai's food.

"Hey, Luke, why don't you get something to eat and join me?" Lorelai suggested as Luke moved around the counter and tables with practised ease. "Unless you've already eaten or can't stand being in my presence for a moment longer, that is," she added, giving him an out in case he wanted it. She really hoped he didn't, though.

Luke flashed her a smile and disappeared into the kitchen for a minute, returning with a salad for himself. Lorelai grinned and waited for Luke to sit down before starting to eat her meal. They ate and chatted about unimportant things—how Papaya the cat had taken up residence at Miss Patty's studio, the squeaky step leading up to Lorelai's bedroom, the merits and horrors of baseball movies and all the other things that they never really got around to talking about. It was nice. Almost like the night they had watched Sookie and Jackson on their first date while playing poker at the counter. That had been a good night.

"More coffee?" Luke asked, glancing at the empty coffee cup that sat in front of Lorelai.

"No, I should get going. Chief Baker wants to go over some things before the clean up crew comes 'round," Lorelai said, fumbling through her purse to find her wallet. She located it and pulled some bills from inside, dropping them on the table without asking how much she needed to pay. It was automatic mental math that both she and Rory did whenever they ordered. She stood up and pulled on her jacket. "Thanks again for letting me crash at your place the other night. That was way above and beyond the call."

Luke shook his head, a soft smile gracing his lips. "You needed help. Besides, Mrs. Slutsky was about to pull out her shotgun. I had to do something," he said, trying to play it off like it was nothing.

"What is Mrs. Slutsky doing with a shotgun?" Lorelai frowned.

"She got it the day Jess moved in," Luke said before turning to tend to another customer. Lorelai rolled her eyes and tramped down the urge to ask Luke again what he was going to do about the Jess situation. It wasn't the right time, she decided, though she made a note to talk to him about it later.

Lorelai called a quick goodbye as she left the diner, knowing she would be back in a few hours for dinner and company since Rory was working on something at the Franklin and would be late since she was acting editor while Paris was away and with the fire and everything she had procrastinated too much already. She got in her Jeep and drove to the Inn where the Fire Chief had set up a tent that was acting as his office and headquarters for all things post-fire related.

Chief Baker wasn't there yet, but there was a black BMW parked outside the Inn. Lorelai frowned, praying it wasn't someone who hadn't heard the news about the Inn being closed until the damage was repaired. As she parked her car the driver's side door of the BMW opened and a young man in a dark suit stepped out, sunglasses perched on his nose.

"Lorelai Victoria Gilmore?" the suit asked as she got out of the Jeep.

"That's me. Can I help you?" she asked, nervous. She had never liked being full-named by her parents and having a total stranger do it was not a good sign.

The suit handed her an envelope. She took it and frowned. "You have been served," he said. "Have a nice day," he tossed over his shoulder before heading back to his car.

* * *

_Okay, that was chapter one. I decided to jump right into the problem in the story because I couldn't have too much of a lead-in without giving everything away._

_What did you think?_

_Mel_


	2. Parental Guidence

**_TITLE_** Second Star From The Right

**_RATING_** PG-13-R

**_SUMMERY_** After the fire at the Independence Inn one of the guests sues Lorelai.

**_DISCLAIMER_** I own nothing. I don't even have the cash to buy the DVDs.

* * *

PARENTAL GUIDENCE

* * *

Blinded by rage Lorelai stormed into the diner, eyes flashing in anger. She slammed the door making the glass shake, and all eyes were immediately on her.

"Did you know about this?" she demanded of Luke as soon as she spotted him. She waved around the papers that had been inside the envelope the Suit had handed her.

"Know about what?" Luke said, angry about how Lorelai was acting. "And keep your voice down. I've got customers."

"Good for you. It must be nice, your livelihood not being a burnt-out building that does nothing but mock you. I wouldn't know what that's like, though, since the Inn is ruined and I'm probably going to lose everything I have because **_your_** girlfriend convinced one of her clients to sue me!" Lorelai yelled. She was angry and hurt—more hurt than angry—and didn't care that she was making a scene. "Did you talk Nicole into it? I never thought you were the type to kick a friend when they're down but, hey, what do I know? I mean, I didn't know that I was a career fuck-up who has a harmful disregard for human life!" she ranted, loosely quoting from the documents in her hand.

"What?" Luke said, stunned. He looked around the diner and realized that half the town was watching Lorelai's meltdown and that she would be humiliated later, so he put down his pad and pen and grabbed Lorelai's hand and pulled her up to his apartment, closing the door and locking it securely.

"Did you know?" Lorelai asked, her voice soft and tearful, anger giving way to grief.

"Lorelai, I swear, I have no idea what you're talking about," Luke said gently. He reached out and tucked her hair behind her ear, something he had wanted to do for years. "Sit down. Tell me what happened," he said, leading her over to the couch.

Lorelai took a deep breath as she curled up in the corner of the couch as far away from Luke as she could. "I… I got to the Inn and there was this guy there… he gave me an envelope and told me that I had been served. Then the cretin told me to have a nice day before peeling off in his Beemer."

"Can I see?" Luke asked. Lorelai held out the papers and Luke took them and quickly read them over. Once he was done he put them on the coffee table. "I swear I didn't know anything about this. If I did I would have tried to stop it… warned you somehow. I hate that Nicole's doing this to you."

Lorelai wanted to believe him so badly, but ever since he and Nicole started dating Luke had changed, and sometimes she wasn't sure she knew who he was anymore.

She could feel her emotions starting to get the better of her so she knew it was time to make a getaway. The last thing she needed was to break down in front of Luke. "I have to go," she said as she swiped at the tears that had managed to get through her defences.

"Lorelai," Luke protested.

"No. I have to pick Rory up from school and… I just have to get out of here," she said before rushing out of the apartment and hurrying down the stairs, rushing out to her Jeep before Luke even had time to reach the top of the stairs.

* * *

Lorelai's phone started ringing at the same time that she started the car. "That better not be you, Luke, 'cause I'm not ready to talk to you right now," she said by way of greeting.

"It's not Luke and what did he do to you?" Rory asked.

Lorelai sighed heavily. "It wasn't Luke. He was fine. It's just… been a day that would make being locked in an empty five-by-five room with a pack of rabid dogs for an indeterminate amount of time seem like a day at the beach."

"Well, considering your track record with animals, maybe you'd outlive the rabid dogs," Rory said.

"Thanks ever so much. That's really what I needed to hear right now," Lorelai said sarcastically. She really didn't want to get into the details of her day over the phone so she changed the subject. "How's the paper stuff going? You almost ready to head home?"

"That's what I'm calling about. The story that was supposed to be on the front page fell through. Apparently the reliable source wasn't. So I have to find something to fill the space before putting the issue to bed," Rory said.

"How late are we talking here?" Lorelai asked.

"I am Godot."

Lorelai took that in, trying to decide if Rory working late would make her quest easier or more difficult.

"Okay, sweets. I'm going to be in Hartford for a few hours so if you need me to make a food run or anything just give me a call," Lorelai said.

"Thanks," Rory said. She frowned. "What are you doing in Hartford?"

"Just aftermath of the fire," Lorelai said, hating that she was keeping things from her kid. _She's got enough to worry about right now. We'll talk when we get home, _Lorelai rationalized. "I've got it under control"

Rory was silent for a moment before speaking again. "Mom, is everything okay?"

Lorelai sped up as she left Stars Hollow. "It will be," she said, firmly believing what she was saying.

* * *

The last time it had been her _first_ instinct to run to her parents for help Lorelai had been four and the neighbour's Pekinese had somehow gotten into the house and had given birth to a litter of puppies on her brand new duvet. Emily had blamed Lorelai for bringing the 'filthy creature' into the house and Richard had announced that he was going to Prague for a week before turning around and going to pack for his trip. From that day forward Lorelai hadn't turned to her parents for anything without running out of alternatives first.

But there wasn't even a moment of hesitation this time around.

Last Friday night dinner Richard had mentioned that he would be working from home for at least a week while his office building underwent some kind of overhaul, a fact that normally would have gone in one ear and out the other but had somehow stuck in Lorelai's memory which, any other time would have driven her crazy but this time helped her because she knew both her parents would be home and talk to them at the same time would make her life a lot simpler.

After parking her Jeep in front of the house Lorelai jumped out of the car and walked to the door.

The maid opened the door. "Can I help you?" she asked flatly.

"I'm Lorelai, Emily and Richard's daughter. Are they home?"

"Yes, they are. Please, come in. I'll get them to meet you in the living room," the maid said.

"Thank you," Lorelai said, smiling softly at the maid who she was almost certain wouldn't be there come the next Friday Night Dinner. She went into the living room and debated about whether or not to make herself a drink but decided against it and opted for neurotic pacing in front of the unlit fireplace.

"Lorelai, this is a pleasant surprise," Richard said as he came in from his study. Normally he wouldn't be happy about being interrupted while working but a spontaneous visit from his only daughter when he was having a particularly bad day was more than welcome.

Lorelai smiled weakly. "Well, it's a surprise," she said. Then, before her father could ask her what she meant, she said, "How's it going, dad? The working from home, I mean."

"I am counting the seconds until I can get back into my office," Richard confessed with a smile. Lorelai grinned back. "How is Rory?"

"Working like a busy little blue-plaid bee. Things at the Franklin are crazy right now, but you'll never hear her complain," Lorelai said.

"She _is_ a Gilmore," Richard said, smiling proudly at the thought of his granddaughter. Lorelai had a fleeting pang of guilt that she had never brought that smile to her father's face, but she pushed it aside. All in all she was happy with her life and she wouldn't change a thing. Except for maybe all of the Post-Rory hook-ups she'd had with Christopher.

"I've never found cause to dispute that," Lorelai agreed. She looked around nervously. She wanted this over with. "Where's mom?"

Richard shrugged. "In the garden, I'd imagine."

"Garden. Right. 'Cause it's a nice day and flowers are blooming and you've gotta cut them at just the right time or you'll end up with lacklustre arrangements. Plus you've gotta cut certain flowers just the right way or you'll end up killing the plant entirely," Lorelai rambled, wondering how she knew anything about gardening when she could barely keep a cactus alive for any length of time.

"Maybe I should get you a drink," Richard said. He had never been good at deciphering his daughter's rants.

Leave it to her decidedly WASP-y father to solve emotional breakdowns with alcohol. There was nothing a whiskey sour or a good bourbon couldn't cure for Richard Gilmore. "No, I think sobriety is my best course of action at the moment, dad, but thanks," Lorelai said. She really wanted to get this over with—to swallow her pride and tell her parents that she needed help and was once again turning to them even though her hit single of 'Independent Lorelai' was constantly playing in the background like the theme song for a cheesy Sixties superhero.

The patio doors opened and Emily came in, straw hat perched on her head and casual clothing—slacks from last season and a light blouse—adorning her body.

"Lorelai, this is a surprise," Emily said as she carried her basket of flowers into the living room. "Is Rory with you?"

"Nope, just me today," Lorelai said.

She reached into her purse and wrapped her fingers around the envelope she had stuffed the papers back into. "I… I need some help," Lorelai said as she handed everything to her father who frowned as he took the papers out and read the cover page. Richard's head popped up. "I know," Lorelai said. "That's why I'm here. The only lawyer I know is Nicole and, obviously, we're not that close. I thought maybe a friend or something of yours could help… help make this go away."

Richard nodded. "I'll call around. When did you get this?"

"About two hours ago," Lorelai said. She noticed her mother glowing with happiness. "Some kid handed me those when I got to the Inn after lunch. I called Mia and she told me to find a lawyer and bill the Inn… I hated even calling her, though. She's been sick lately and I don't want to give her anything more to worry about."

"Richard, go make your calls," Emily said. Richard left and Emily gently led Lorelai over to the couch. "Mia's been sick?" she asked.

Lorelai nodded. "She was playing at the beach with her grandkids and the cold she was fighting turned to pneumonia. She's been in the hospital for a week."

"I'm sorry, Lorelai. I know how important Mia is to you and Rory," Emily said earnestly.

"Thanks," Lorelai said softly. Her head fell forward and she buried her face in her hands. She couldn't believe it was only a few days ago that Sookie was holding two coffee filters behind her head in hopes of convincing the stray she had christened Papaya that the crazy human was her mother because that was the only way Sookie could think of to get the cat to eat something. Now she had no Inn, fighting with Luke, facing a law suit, and turning to her parents for help. And, to top things off, she was sitting on a couch that cost more than her car listening to her mother spouting platitudes for a sick woman that meant the world to Lorelai.

Composing herself, Lorelai sat upright, tucking her hair behind her ears. "Can I use your phone? I'm waiting for Rory to call and I need to get in touch with Michel and Tobin."

"Who are they?" Emily asked.

"Michel you know. He's the concierge at the Inn," Lorelai said as Emily got up. "And Tobin is the night manager. I just want to make sure that they haven't gotten anything from Nicole."

Emily frowned as she brought an ornate rotary phone over and placed it in front of Lorelai. "You keep referring to this woman, this lawyer, Nicole, by her first name," she commented.

"Lorelai picked up the phone and started dialling Michel's number. "Nicole Lehey's firm represents Taylor Doose, the Town Selectman. I've dealt with her on some standard matters for the Inn—mostly construction applications that Taylor wants to be checked over more thoroughly than normal," she lied. She didn't want to drag Luke into this mess unless she had to.

After speaking with Michel and Tobin, and finding out that neither one had received notification but would contact her if that should happen, Lorelai sat back against the back of the couch, exhausted.

More than anything at that moment she wanted Rory by her side. Everything was easier to deal with when she had her little angel with her. But Rory had her own work to do and Lorelai knew she needed to start getting used to dealing with big life stuff without Rory. Soon she would be alone. Rory would be moving to Yale at the end of the summer. And, while New Haven was closer to Stars Hollow than Boston, it wasn't like Lorelai would just be able to go downstairs and find her kid with her nose in a Kafka or Tolstoy or some equally heavy book. E-mail, phone calls, and weekend visits would be the extent of their contact, and it hurt Lorelai to know that there was nothing she could to do keep her daughter from growing up and leaving the nest.

"Why don't you go upstairs and lie down?" Emily suggested. "You look like you haven't slept in days."

Normally Lorelai would have taken offence to a comment like that coming from her mother but the truth of the matter was that she couldn't remember the last time she had slept through the night. Even before the fire she had been battling insomnia and dreams that she assumed were strange and disturbing because, even though she couldn't remember them after she woke up, they left her feeling uneasy and jumpy throughout the day.

"Okay. But only for a little while," Lorelai said. She grabbed her purse and went over to the staircase. "Thank you, mom. It really means a lot to know that you and dad are always going to be here for me and Rory," she said before going upstairs and making her way to her old bedroom.

She closed the door and pulled the heavy curtains shut before flopping down on the bed and curling up under a hand-made quilt that her favourite aunt, her mother's sister, Marina, had made for her when she was ten, only six months before passing away.

Within moments she was asleep.

* * *

_Okay, so not the longest of chapters, but there's more on it's way soon._

_What did you think?_

_Mel_


	3. Dangerous Thoughts

_**TITLE** Second Star From The Right_

_**RATING** PG-13-R_

_**SUMMERY** After the fire at the Independence Inn one of the guests sues Lorelai._

_**DISCLAIMER** I own nothing. I don't even have the cash to buy the DVDs._

* * *

DANGEROUS THOUGHTS

* * *

The ringing of the phone woke Lorelai from the first sound sleep she had had in weeks. One thing she had to give her mother was that she had exquisite taste in bedding, always making sure that Lorelai's bed was adorned with all things fluffy and warm because she loved feeling like she was sleeping in a nest of Egyptian cotton and grey goose down.

Groaning Lorelai fumbled blindly for her purse. Once she located the new leather purse she tried to get her phone out without opening her eyes. It didn't work and, since she remembered telling Rory to call if she needed anything, Lorelai caved and opened her eyes, wrapping her fingers around her cell phone and hitting TALK as she raised it to her ear. "Hello?"

"Lorelai—"

"No, Luke," Lorelai snapped, sitting up. "I can't… I can't right now."

"I didn't know, Lorelai," Luke said.

Lorelai sighed and dragged her fingers through her hair. "I know that, Luke," she said. And she did. She had known right away that Luke hadn't known about the law suit. "And I'm sorry for saying that you somehow encouraged this. But right now… I just can't talk to you. I'll… I have to go. I'll… see you around," Lorelai said, physically pained, before hanging up. She checked the time and groaned before getting up and heading downstairs, hoping that her father had obtained a lawyer for her, or at least had a good line on one.

She was halfway down the stairs when her phone rang again. "Hello?" she said impatiently.

"Lorelai, you got a second?"

"Who is this?" Lorelai frowned.

"Jess."

"Rory's still at school," Lorelai said.

Jess sighed audibly. "I know. And if I wanted to talk to her I'd be calling her not you. But I'm calling you. Jeeze, try to keep up."

"Look, Jess, I'm having a particularly shitty day today so if you could just get to the point that would be really great," Lorelai said grumpily. She had a headache and was trying to decide if she should go to the bathroom and see if the Aspirin hadn't passed its Best By date before Rory's birth when Jess spoke again.

"Nicole's a bitch," Jess said. Lorelai couldn't help but smile. Blunt as it was, Jess had hit the nail on the head, in her humble opinion. "She thinks you're trying to take Luke away from her. She's only doing this law suit thing to put distance between you and Luke."

Lorelai rolled her eyes."Diabolical." She would have said more but she couldn't help but listen to the nagging voice in the back of her head that was telling her the same thing. And, what made it worse was knowing that, intentional or not, Nicole's plan, that may or may not have even been her plan, was working. The entire length of the Mississippi River could fit in the chasm that had developed between Luke and Loreali.

"Hey, believe me or not, it's up to you, but don't tell me it's not working," Jess said. "Half the town saw your little show earlier at the diner, and the other half heard about it before you got in your car. I think the only person who doesn't know is Rory, and even that's not a safe bet because I saw the crazy dance lady talking on her cell phone about the fight."

It was times like these that Lorelai hated living in a small town.

"It wasn't a fight. I overreacted and freaked out and Luke was the unwitting target of my anger."

"Because he's dating the woman who is suing you."

"Because he's dating the woman who is representing the woman who is suing me," Lorelai corrected.

"Nicole conned that woman into suing you and you know it," Jess said.

"As much as I would love to blame everything on Nicole, and I _really_ would, your conspiracy theories aren't going to help anyone, Jess," Lorelai said.

Lorelai sat down on the carpeted floor and leaned her head against the wainscoted wall. The last time she had sat where she was, at the platform where the stairs hit a switchback, was almost exactly eighteen years before, Christopher by her side, listening to four people more concerned with their public images than the fact that she had a life growing inside her that, whether the DAR and the people at the firm and _Ms Manners_ approved, was coming out in a matter of months. There had been a plant there, once upon a time, and the carpet had been a different colour, different texture. But everything was pretty much the same, otherwise. She was going through something, her parents were conferring in the living room, and she was talking to a boy who was nothing but trouble. Only this time the boy wasn't hers, he was her daughter's, and she had actually asked her parents to stick their noses into her life. And no one was pregnant. Which was the only thing keeping Lorelai sane at that moment.

"You might not need Luke, but he needs you. Not that watching him physically throw annoying tourists out the door wasn't entertaining, but sooner or later he's gonna kick everyone out and lose the diner. And I may not remember Grandpa William, but I do know that that place is Luke's link to his parents."

"And if I don't get past this I'll be responsible for Luke losing his parents all over again, huh? Look, Jess, you haven't met my parents yet, and, trust me, you should be thankful for that, but I'm fairly sure that you've heard enough by now to know that guilt is a favoured tactic of theirs. And I know that you know me well enough to know that guilt for things that are really not my fault is not something that affects what I do. So why play that card?" Lorelai said. She frowned. "He really threw a tourist out of the diner?"

"The guy crossed the curb before he hit the ground," Jess said.

"Ouch," Lorelai cringed.

"Bounced twice, too," Jess said.

Lorelai rolled her eyes. "Now you're just making stuff up."

"Like a human basketball."

"Whatever you say," Lorelai said while visualizing Luke doing what Jess said he had done.

Her stomach clenched as her mind wandered to thoughts of how strong Luke would have to be to throw someone over the curb and how it really was a shame that he wore flannel all the time if he had muscles to show off under all that well-washed cotton. She can't honestly remember the last time she saw him in anything other than cotton—white cotton shirts under his flannels, gently faded-with-time jeans, the blue hat she bought him in thanks for driving her to the hospital even though he hated everything about being there, the grey hat that he wore before she had him trade up to her new and improved blue version that didn't have a weird leather strap and metal buckle leaving a mark on his forehead that she saw on the rare occasions that he would remove the hat from his head—but she's pretty sure it was around Rachel's birthday when Lorelai had gone shopping with the purpose of finding Rachel a thoughtful gift from Luke and had ended up spending more time buying clothes for Luke because she couldn't help herself and couldn't stop herself from buying all the things she just _knew_ he would look good in. Lorelai quickly pushed those thoughts away, though, feeling guilty because, not only was Luke her best friend who also happened to have a girlfriend, but also because she was still in a self-imposed Nun stage in her dating life and thinking thoughts that could easily stray to the dirty about someone—especially Luke who was her stalwart knight who was there for her and Rory no matter what—was not at all appropriate.

"Look, Jess, I've gotta go. I'll see you later," Lorelai said, hanging up before the teen could get another word in. The call had been thoroughly unsettling. Not only was Jess, the reluctant bystander and ward in the Danes 'household' going out of his way to patch things up with his uncle and his girlfriend's mother—who, other than what amounted to about four collective hours of actually liking him, had barely tolerated his presence since he arrived—but Lorelai had also found herself having warm, fuzzy, and potentially _dirty_ feelings for Luke.

Not that such feelings and thoughts were completely out of the ordinary. From day one she'd known that Luke was an attractive man. She wasn't blind, no matter how often she was teased and tortured about her friendship with Luke. But back when they'd met Lorelai had been celebrating the fact that she had finally been given permission to move into her new house and wanted to get a good cup of coffee before picking Rory and Lane up from school. Her plans involved walking Lane home, maybe sticking around for a few minutes to be insulted and damned to Hell by Mrs. Kim, maybe once again come within moments of asking why Mr. Kim was never around and why, in the six years that she had known the Kim's, she had never even seen so much as a picture of the elusive patriarch of the Kim clan, then walking Rory to the house instead of the potting shed. Westins had been closed for the day, Fran having decided that she needed to repaint the place, so Lorelai decided to head to Doose's Market to get one of his lousy cups of coffee with the fake creamer and sugar that looked suspiciously like cocaine and bubbled creepily when it hit liquid. However, as she was headed toward the market she spotted something she hadn't seen before. By the sign for William's Hardware, which she had always assumed was just a vacant shop that had yet to be sold, was a new sign.

A big yellow coffee mug with _LUKE'S_ scrawled across it.

Never one to back away from anywhere that had a giant coffee cup hanging above its door, Lorelai rushed in to the busy diner and searched for someone in a uniform or apron or something to tell her who worked there and who was waiting for a table. Finally she spotted a tall man writing something down on a little order pad with one of those stumpy pencils that she usually associated with mini-golf, and she started begging for coffee. Almost fifteen minutes and some of her best material later, Lorelai handed the man a slightly altered horoscope and walked out with what she was quite sure was the best cup of coffee she had ever had in her life. And that included the coffee that the maid her mother had imported from Brazil whose family owned a coffee plantation had made. Baring the day Rory was born—after the painkillers had kicked in—it had been the best day of her life, and, though she was loathe to admit it, the cute diner guy had had something to do with her joyous mood. However, he had never asked her out, and she hadn't been in a place in her life where she really wanted a relationship, so a friendship was forged and other than their little flirting thing and the occasional fantasy that Lorelai indulged in—usually after her birthday when Luke would leave the house all sweaty and proud of the work he'd done for her—their relationship was purely pure.

After taking a moment to calm herself a little more, Lorelai got up and went down into the living room to find her parents and a good looking older man in a three piece suit that Lorelai was fairly sure cost more than Rory's college tuition would which, as Lorelai was beginning to panic about, was not an inconsiderable sum of money.

"Lorelai, good, I was just about to wake you," Emily said warmly. "You remember Jamison Garvy."

"Of course," Lorelai said though she couldn't have placed the man if her life depended on it. "It's good to see you again, Mr. Garvy," she said, extending her hand to the man who she assumed was her lawyer.

"You too, Lorelai. How is that little girl of yours doing?"

Lorelai smiled softly. "Preparing to start Yale in the fall," she said proudly.

"Good for her," Garvy said, nodding approvingly, as if his thoughts on the matter meant anything to her. "Now, your father has given me a summation but I would like to hear your own account of the events leading up to and following the fire at the Independence Inn."

Nodding, Lorelai sat down across from Garvy and began to tell her story for what felt like the billionth time in the last week.

* * *

_Two characters are giving me trouble when I write this. Emily, who is so anal and bitchy and yet can be an amazing woman sometimes, and Jess, who is too taciturn and fixed in character for me to really work with, especially compared to the other residents of Stars Hollow. So if their actions/comments/et cetera are out of character, sorry, but I'm doing the best I can with what I've got._

_M_


	4. Safe Spaces

**_TITLE_** Second Star From The Right

**_RATING_** PG-13-R

**_SUMMERY_** After the fire at the Independence Inn one of the guests sues Lorelai.

**_DISCLAIMER_** I own nothing. I don't even have the cash to buy the DVDs.

* * *

SAFE SPACES

* * *

Though the entire day had been like one giant roller coaster ride through Hell—and Lorelai was the type to get sick whenever she was in a moving vehicle that she wasn't in control of, which had made Rory's driving lessons _very_ interesting until she had managed to convince Luke to play driving instructor—as Lorelai parked her Jeep in the cobbled courtyard at Chilton she felt the crappiness of everything she'd gone through and expected to go through again on a near daily basis until this was all over with just melt away. And, considering how she had never had a completely _good_ visit to Chilton's cavernous hallowed halls, Lorelai found herself more than slightly creeped out by the fact that, for the first time in two and a half years, she _wasn't_ creeped out by the building with it's stone gargoyles and hand-shaped stone walls and blue plaid uniforms that she and Rory planned on destroying in a colossal bonfire during the massive graduation bash they were going to have after the tassel hats had been tossed and the obligatory mini-celebration with the grandparents was out of the way.

Rory had called for a ride home just before Emily talked to the cook about adding a third person to the dinner plans, and, while Lorelai was thrilled that her parents were helping her so willingly and weren't belittling her for getting herself into the mess to begin with as she was so sure they would have only a few years ago—hell, even a few months ago—there was only so much quality time that the Gilmore's could spend together before things got ugly. And, like the shopping trip before Rory's sixteenth birthday, Lorelai wanted to hang on to the good memories for as long as possible before the usual lacklustre relationship with her parents reasserted itself and the balance was restored.

There were so few good memories that Lorelai had of spending time with her parents. She remembered when she was eleven and she had been given the beautiful dollhouse that had been the only thing she regretted leaving behind when she moved out, and, other than the fact that she wasn't allowed to actually _play_ with the dollhouse, Lorelai had never had a better present because it had been exactly what she wanted, which meant that her parents must have listened to something that she said at some point in time because not even her father's assistant, Largie-Margie, was privy to Lorelai's dream dollhouse's existence, let alone specifications. Then, almost four months after her birthday, she had broken her leg in a car accident—the maid who had been driving her home from school was promptly deported, even though it hadn't been her fault, but had been the fault of the moron who was drunk at three thirty in the afternoon and decided to run a red light and slam into the luxury vehicle that had been going through the intersection—Emily had stayed home one Saturday and had taken the glass off the dollhouse and they had sat on the floor playing mindless games until Richard came home and announced that his mother was coming to visit. That, of course, had put Emily in a foul mood, but Lorelai had been so happy that she had finally gotten some real mother-daughter time without fights or being scolded that she wasn't worried by thought of Gram coming to visit while her leg was wrapped in electric pink plaster to below her knee and that her friends had taken permanent markers to her leg during a visit after they got off school one day earlier in the week and they had amused themselves by writing things that Lorelai was sure her grandmother wouldn't approve of if she understood what had been written. And her grandmother was a very smart woman and could usually keep up with Lorelai long after her parents gave up trying.

Lorelai had stopped for coffee before heading to Chilton, hoping that it would save her from explaining why she was avoiding Luke's—which wasn't the truth at all because she had no problems with the diner itself, she was just currently having issues with the proprietor, but, since one didn't come without the other, the childish tactic of avoidance was the current answer to her problems—and, while she didn't want to let her precious coffee go, Lorelai decided to leave it in the car, to keep Rory's company, and to give her extra incentive to get Rory out of the Franklin office as soon as she got there.

Her low-heeled boots clicked loudly on the floor as Lorelai negotiated the corridors, going up flights of stairs and down others, sure she was going to end up completely lost and would spend the rest of her days wandering around hoping for a Minotaur to put her out of her labyrinth misery—which, naturally, set her to thinking about David Bowie and how creepy he was in _Labyrinth_—but finally she found the ever elusive office and, through the window, she saw her daughter hunched over the layout of the next issue with a few other students. All had shed their sweaters in deference to the warm weather and the lack of modern amenities like air conditioning in the castle-like building, and Rory was no longer wearing her tie, her hair, which had been hanging loose that morning, was tied in a messy knot on top of her head, held in place by several pencils, and her sleeves were rolled up past her elbows. And, Lorelai smiled when she noticed the last thing that was thoroughly out of place in the halls of Chilton—Rory wasn't wearing her shoes. The other students were looking just as rumpled and relaxed as Rory, though none of them had been bold enough to eschew footwear, despite how uncomfortable their feet must have been in the regulation shoes.

Tapping lightly on the glass before opening the door, Lorelai felt like she was intruding upon something sacred. Several of the students shot her a glare that gave whole new meaning to 'if looks could kill'. Madeline smiled and waved before turning back to her computer and Louise nodded her head in greeting before going back to collecting her papers from the laser printer in the corner of the room. Rory's reaction, however, was the most gratifying. Her entire face lit up like a kid on Christmas and Lorelai couldn't remember the last time she'd seen Rory smile that widely.

"Hey, we'll be done in about ten minutes," Rory promised.

"Fine, but every moment you stay here is a moment that your coffee gets a little bit colder," Lorelai warned, regretting her decision to leave her to-go cup in the car.

"We aren't going to Luke's?" Rory asked with a frown as she put the finishing touches on the layout and made sure that everything was secure. "Madeline, you almost done with your piece?" she called over her shoulder.

"Five minutes," Madeline called back as Louise handed a small stack of pages to Rory.

"Mom? Luke's?" Rory prompted as she continued working.

Lorelai shook her head. "Not today, hun. I was thinking maybe grabbing something from Al's Pancake World. Or we could just go crazy and try to make it through all twelve layers of the twelve-layer German chocolate cake that, to date, is the only cake to defeat the great and powerful Lorelai's Gilmore."

"We've never been able to get through all those layers before," Rory pointed out.

"Hello, _leftovers_," Lorelai said like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"And I have serious concerns about attempting to tackle the Everest of layer cakes on the spur of the moment just because we've been beaten in the past," Rory continued, ignoring her mother's comment.

"What we need is a good food-related challenge," Lorelai insisted.

Rory shook her head vehemently. "I need real food tonight, not forty pounds of sugar. Why can't we go to Luke's?" she asked. Rory stopped what she was doing and frowned, the realization hitting so hard that she couldn't believe that she hadn't figured it out sooner. "You're in a fight," she said.

It wasn't a question.

"Sorta," Lorelai admitted. "And I'll explain it all over Al's take-out if you get a move-on."

"My parents would never let me have pancakes for dinner," one girl commented as she worked on the layout.

"Al's doesn't actually serve pancakes," Rory said gently. She got several strange looks. "It's a long story," she said before turning her attention back to her mother. "This isn't like after the accident, is it? You're not going to have to pretend to be Mimi again just to get a decent cup of coffee, are you?" More strange looks were passed as the conversation continued, but neither Gilmore girl noticed.

"No, because I'm not going to be making the first move this time. If anyone does anything it'll be him 'cause he's the one in the wrong here," Lorelai said, though she didn't believe her own words. She sighed heavily, idly wondering if she could stand to go back to her parents' house for dinner, or, at the very least, drinks. "Finish up here. I'll be in the car," she said before leaving the office and heading out of the school, this time finding a very direct route and taking it.

* * *

Even though Rory knew that her mother hated fighting with Luke she couldn't see why this latest fight was getting to Lorelai so deeply. So, making an executive decision, Rory told Josh Reinhardt, her right hand and Chem lab partner, to finish the layout before he drove the paper over to the printers and then she gathered up her bag and the discarded pieces of her uniform and ran out after her mother, shoes in hand, her stocking feet slipping on the cool marble floors.

"Mom, wait up! I'm not wearing any shoes!" Rory called as she chased after her mother. Lorelai didn't stop, but she did slow down once she reached the courtyard, allowing Rory to catch up. Rory threw her things into the back of the car and then put her hand on Lorelai's arm. "Mom, what happened today? Everything was fine this morning."

"When we get home, okay? I don't want to talk about this while driving," Lorelai said rationally. Rory nodded and got in the car, sticking her feet into her shoes after getting buckled in.

The ride home passed in silence and, after parking the car in the driveway, Lorelai turned to Rory and spoke. "Do me a favour and get in the house as fast as you can. I don't want Babette to catch you before I can explain everything."

Rory frowned but did as her mother asked, hurrying into the house and heading to the kitchen to lock the back door just in case. Lorelai gathered Rory's things and followed, locking the front door and dropping her daughter's belongings in her bedroom before taking a seat at the kitchen table.

They sat in tense silence for a long time. Lorelai had no idea how to tell Rory what had happened between the time she left for school and the confusing encounter at the Franklin. Rory didn't want to push, knowing that that would just make everything more difficult for her mom. So, for what was probably only the tenth time in the history of the 'Crap Shack', silence reigned over Lorelai and Rory Gilmore.

Finally Lorelai sorted her thoughts out and she started speaking.

She explained everything, from the Suit handing her the blue-backed papers to the fight with Luke to going to her parents to the call from Jess. She went into detail about her meeting with Jamison Garvy and how he had given her hope as well as some tidbits about Nicole that made both Lorelai and Rory worry about their dear friend, Luke. Then, as she was winding down with her quick and timely escape from the house that Gilmore built, insured, and filled with guilt and an endless stream of maids, the phone rang and Lorelai was reminded that she had told Sookie, Tobin, and Michel that she would meet them at Sookie's house after she talked with the lawyer. Leaving Michel and Tobin in the same room for long periods of time—for any period of time—was like putting a stick of dynamite next to fire-breathing dragon—though she wasn't sure if there was any other kind of dragon out there, and, even if there was, they were long extinct by the time dynamite was invented making her mental metaphor faulty on numerous levels—so, after promising to be back soon, Lorelai left and Rory went into her room.

Rory unpacked her bag and got changed into her 'civilian' attire and then, before she talked herself out of it, she left, running through the town that had been the only home she could remember, until she came to a stop in front of the home away from home that had always brought her comfort.

Luke's.

It was predictably empty, the dinner crowd having gone home leaving Luke time to go over the day's receipts before actually closing up. Not even Kirk was there, which was strange because, for a man with a million and one jobs, Kirk spent a lot of time at Luke's.

She opened the door, shooting a glare at the bell above the door because it made making a sneak-attack utterly impossible, and went inside. Luke looked up and tensed up when he saw her, an involuntary reaction that broke Rory's heart.

"Jess isn't here," Luke said flatly.

"Not here to see him," Rory said, hopping up on a stool in the centre of the counter. She rested her elbows on the Formica and peered at the man who had always been her father-figure and who, she had to admit, she had always hoped would one day get his ass in gear and actually _become_ her father. Or step-father, technically. Not that she didn't still hold onto the childish hope that one day her mommy and daddy would get together and they would be a family, but Rory was, if nothing else, a realist, and the reality was that her father had never done anything but hurt her mother and Luke had never done anything but be there for both of them, even when they made it nearly impossible for him to do so.

Never one to beat around the bush when it really mattered, Rory got right to the point. "I talked to my mom. She told me what's happening. What Nicole is doing."

"I swear I didn't know about this, Rory," Luke said plaintively.

Rory nodded. "I know that. Mom does, too," she said, knowing in her heart of hearts that she was telling the truth. "It's just… like it or not, Nicole is in our lives as long as she's in your life 'cause somewhere between the day I came in here in tears, wearing sparkly pink fairy wings and asked you to come to a caterpillar's funeral and this moment right here… you've become part of our lives, and not just because of your coffee and the fact that you feed us pretty much every meal that we eat." Luke managed a half-hearted smile at that. "So, if Nicole is in your life she's in ours, and she's representing the woman who is suing mom and Mia so it's… weird. You're the one who brought this woman into our lives."

"She only came to Stars Hollow because of Taylor," Luke pointed out.

"Maybe so, but she's not sleeping with Taylor," Rory shot back, barely holding in the added editorializing of '_he's about the only guy she's not sleeping with_', holding her tongue on that one only because she knew it would only serve to both hurt and anger Luke, neither of which was her intention. "Sorry. That was completely uncalled for," she said quickly. Luke, too shocked at Rory's comment, leaned back against the coffee maker looking like he had been punched in the gut. "I… uh… I'm gonna go. Bye, Luke," Rory said before beating a hasty retreat.

* * *

_I meant to post this on Friday before I went out of town but the universe conspired against me and my plans, as always, had to change to adapt to the universe's mandates._

_For those of you wondering what happened to me on the JAG front, I'm still working on those stories but my family has been going through some major upheavals lately and I just haven't been able to write much for those stories. I will try to post more soon, though, even if the chapters are a little shorter than I'd like._

_What did you think of this chapter?_

_M_


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